I don't think that is necessarily true, but I have heard some high end stuff that is poorly designed, causing problems with other components. Perhaps a different grounding scheme, or a tube preamp having difficulty driving a low input z solid state amp, etc....
One pairing reminded me of a time when I used a y cable to somehow split the audio between my DVD player, TV and receiver and got a garbled mess.
Sometimes the "geniuses" who design the "hi end" gear actually know what they are doing, and sometimes they are taking some pet theory to an extreme (so they can write marketing copy) and getting an unstable pile of crap, or a $10,000 tone control.
You can count on one hand ,healthy , less accident , violence prone females remotely interested in progressing high end audio. Chinese certainly won't be importing american girls..and I can't see any other nation interested in importing them as well as much as american guys would like to export them by numbers
Today 06:04 PM
All DIY.
No PA, Hi-Fi. Perhaps close to the Altec 19, perhaps best:
Fusion-15 Sentinel DIY Sound Group
With 99dB SPL can be easily move with the Camp Amp:
Amp Camp Amp Kit – diyAudio Store (BETA)
As preamp:
Mezmerize B1 Buffer – diyAudio Store (BETA)
No PA, Hi-Fi. Perhaps close to the Altec 19, perhaps best:
Fusion-15 Sentinel DIY Sound Group
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
With 99dB SPL can be easily move with the Camp Amp:
Amp Camp Amp Kit – diyAudio Store (BETA)
As preamp:
Mezmerize B1 Buffer – diyAudio Store (BETA)
The spend level for high end sound is determined by the current definition of high end, your budget, or "level of affluence", your DIY abilities, and your creativity.
I have been DIY'ing my HiFi and MI amplification systems since I was about 12 years old. Back then anything that could be made for zero spend that made any sound at all was perfectly acceptable.
Working as a repair tech at a stereo store next door to the University of Miami at age 18 allowed me to get broken stuff cheap, fix it and have a nice stereo system by most peoples definition......Fisher 500TX, Garrard Zero 100 (POS!!!), DIY speakers, and a DIY guitar amp with 8 X 6L6GC's. and 8 X 12 inch Utah speakers. Throughout, I kept my spend level to a net zero. Buy some broken stuff, fix it, sell it, repeat....keep the best, sell the rest. The Garrard rep actually traded ME a NIB Zero 100 for my "made from two broken units" SL72B. Looking back at all the grief the Z100 gave me....I got screwed.
With The exception of the period around 1980 when I bought into the Carver / Phase Linear fad, I have been DIY and net Zero Spend ever since.
My 41 year long engineering career at Motorola came to an end rather abruptly about 2 years ago. We packed up and moved 1200 miles on 3 weeks notice. Most of my stereo and guitar amp stuff got sold or traded since I couldn't move it all, and had no place to store the big stuff while the new house was being built.
So now I have an empty 1600 sq ft basement, and a few K$ from selling stuff, so step 1 is to build a workspace / listening room (currently underway), apply some sound treatment, and build a new system. The system must handle several tasks well. It will be the means for listening to records (still got my 1977 vintage Technics), digital files from a PC, and perform duties as the monitor system for an audio / video workstation.
My current thinking will be a big subwoofer with a solid state amp, a pair of 125 WPC tube amps driving one of four pairs of speakers. The mandatory Yamaha NS-10M Studio monitors, a pair of DIY stage monitors, a pair of FH-3's, and maybe something like the Fusion 12 Tempest for times when you want to get loud. Still net zero spend.......maybe.
I have been DIY'ing my HiFi and MI amplification systems since I was about 12 years old. Back then anything that could be made for zero spend that made any sound at all was perfectly acceptable.
Working as a repair tech at a stereo store next door to the University of Miami at age 18 allowed me to get broken stuff cheap, fix it and have a nice stereo system by most peoples definition......Fisher 500TX, Garrard Zero 100 (POS!!!), DIY speakers, and a DIY guitar amp with 8 X 6L6GC's. and 8 X 12 inch Utah speakers. Throughout, I kept my spend level to a net zero. Buy some broken stuff, fix it, sell it, repeat....keep the best, sell the rest. The Garrard rep actually traded ME a NIB Zero 100 for my "made from two broken units" SL72B. Looking back at all the grief the Z100 gave me....I got screwed.
With The exception of the period around 1980 when I bought into the Carver / Phase Linear fad, I have been DIY and net Zero Spend ever since.
My 41 year long engineering career at Motorola came to an end rather abruptly about 2 years ago. We packed up and moved 1200 miles on 3 weeks notice. Most of my stereo and guitar amp stuff got sold or traded since I couldn't move it all, and had no place to store the big stuff while the new house was being built.
So now I have an empty 1600 sq ft basement, and a few K$ from selling stuff, so step 1 is to build a workspace / listening room (currently underway), apply some sound treatment, and build a new system. The system must handle several tasks well. It will be the means for listening to records (still got my 1977 vintage Technics), digital files from a PC, and perform duties as the monitor system for an audio / video workstation.
My current thinking will be a big subwoofer with a solid state amp, a pair of 125 WPC tube amps driving one of four pairs of speakers. The mandatory Yamaha NS-10M Studio monitors, a pair of DIY stage monitors, a pair of FH-3's, and maybe something like the Fusion 12 Tempest for times when you want to get loud. Still net zero spend.......maybe.
Rockbox will fix the refresh problems. Also means you can plug the SD card into your pc to load the music on. Wife's clip ZIP you have to hook the zip up and copy at painful speed.
I'm on my second CLIP which I use when travelling with a pair of etymotic headphones. Not sure largest SD cards the CLIP takes, but certainly they will handle 64GB cards, which are around £15 now.
EDIT: does support 128GB as well!
I'm on my second CLIP which I use when travelling with a pair of etymotic headphones. Not sure largest SD cards the CLIP takes, but certainly they will handle 64GB cards, which are around £15 now.
EDIT: does support 128GB as well!
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Nothing, but
a) I don't have an iPhone
b) Battery lasts long enough for a transatlantic flight without draining the phone I might need at the other end.
c) So cheap you don't care so stick in pocket when mowing etc
d) with Rockbox plays all formats so no having mp3 and flac copies of everything (iphone may do this now)
Whether you use a $700 jack of all trades for music listening on the go or a $40 master of one really is a choice. I am not an all eggs in one basket type. I also have a dislike of phones with touch screens. They also don't like me. Skin impedance problems.
FWIW, my iPhone plays both MP3 and lossless, and when mowing, I don't listen to music since the needed volume would age my old ears even further!
Your point about battery life is a good one- but for me, I stopped world traveling about 8 or 9 years ago, so I wasn't as sensitive to that issue.
Your point about battery life is a good one- but for me, I stopped world traveling about 8 or 9 years ago, so I wasn't as sensitive to that issue.
You get a device so small that it will be sent through the wash with your clothes
Already did that twice with my FitBit.
I assume that it survived....I also assume it didn't go through the dryer. I can't understand why it claims to be good for depths up to 5 ATM, but isn't to be worn while swimming. So far my Surge has survived longer than any watch I have ever owned, almost 5 months! I haven't washed it yet, but it's been through rain, snow, ice, mud, a couple of snowy mountain bike crashes, and the "toughest 10K in West Virginia" which was run in early February with about 1500 feet of elevation changes.....according to the Fitbit.
When I was at Motorola I was working in a department that developed IC chips. A small batch of prototype chips had arrived with test data from the fab house. Late evening one day I spotted a tiny black square on the floor as the cleaning crew was vacuuming the lab. I picked it up stuck it in my jeans pocket and forgot about it. Maybe a month later there was a discussion about one of the correlation parts from the fab used for setting up our test station being lost. I remembered the chip I found and checked the pockets of all my jeans that night....sure enough there was a chip in one of the pockets, and it had a number engraved into the plastic. It had been through the washer and dryer several times, yet the data still correlated well with the other parts.
So far I spent $400 on a pair of Klipsch La Scala's. I built a small 5wpc 6HJ5 triode wired amp for about the same amount. My Denon TT was also the same price with upgraded cartridge. That's $1200. For digital sources I use hand me down CD players and my computer. Digital files are flac but I do stream spotify a lot when I don't feel like flipping biscuits.
If I had $1500 to spend, I'd put $1000 on the speakers, and $500 on the rest. I'd buy a new DVD player, a used preamp and poweramp, or receiver, (with a remote) and then I'd probably have run out of money. Cheap speaker wire and interconnect cables should be fine. Connectors are a possible weak link. Old stuff that hasn't been used in a long time can have bad electrolytics, and if stored in a damp place for long (garage or basement) could have deterioration of speaker cones, surrounds, and even MDF cabinetry. Noisy controls and switches can sometimes be spray cleaned (unless they're sealed). I'd look close for those things before buying. The speakers are likely to make by far the biggest difference. Oh, and make sure the preamp or receiver has tone controls...
I have never understood why, in watch parlance 5ATM means you can accidentally dunk it when doing the washing up, or get caught in the rain, but swimming required a 10ATM watch.
Aside: Who hear will admit to putting odd things in the dishwasher like PCBs and car parts (not together.) Or even cooking salmon in it.
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